At Cuba's once bustling tourist sites, foreign visitors are increasingly scarce

HAVANA, June 9 - Colombian Ramiro Escobar had long dreamed of visiting Cuba.

After putting off the trip for decades, last week the 68-year-old finally toured the island's best-known sites — including the white sands of beach resort Varadero. Despite Cuba's struggling economy and fuel shortages, Escobar raved about his experience.

"It's true the country is in crisis, but there are still services and my experience here has been very good," he said. "I've had a great time here."

But Escobar was one of only six foreign tourists - mainly from elsewhere in Latin America - that Reuters was able to locate during a full morning spent earlier this week in Old Havana.

Hotels, restaurants, museums and the once boisterous city streets are now largely devoid of foreigners.

Cuba's tourism industry, beset by shortages, power blackouts and an economy in crisis, never really recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. International visitor numbers have struggled to reach even half of their peak of 4.75 million in 2018.

That has got much worse this year, with the U.S. hinting at possible military action against Cuba and imposing fresh sanctions on the island's communist-run government. As Washington has threatened to penalize foreigners who do business with sanctioned individuals, most top tourism and travel firms have either fled or sharply reduced their activities on the island.

Since the start of May, the two largest foreign hotel chains operating in Cuba - Spain's Melia and Iberostar - announced they would reduce the number of hotels they operate on the island. Canadian hotel firm Blue Diamond pulled out entirely.

Spanish airlines Iberia and World2Fly have suspended their connections to the island, as have Russian airline Rossiya and Canadian airlines WestJet and Air Canada, citing unreliable supplies of jet fuel.

As of last week, credit card giants Visa and Mastercard have also suspended operations in Cuba.

TOURISTS FEARFUL

For those bold enough to give it a go - and able to reach the country - hotel rooms at all-inclusive resorts can be had for as little as $50 a night. But guests may be surprised by broken elevators, shoddy rooms and a lack of choice at the hotel buffet.

Most are not even trying.

"Tourists are afraid to come here," said Adianet Labrada, a representative for the Cubatur agency. "I used to have many groups from all over the world visiting us regularly, but following the sanctions and the threat of military aggression, I lost practically all of them."

According to Cuba's national statistics agency ONEI, 328,608 international visitors arrived in the first months of this year — less than half the number recorded during the same period a year ago, already well below pre-pandemic levels.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump says Cuba is to blame for its economic woes, calling the island's government corrupt and incompetent and saying stiff sanctions are necessary to force change.

Cuba says decades of U.S. sanctions are the root cause of its economic woes.

Valerio Bispuri, an Argentine photographer visiting Cuba this week, said he had been struck by the solidarity amongst the people he encountered on a recent trip to Santiago - 12 hours by road from Havana - despite obvious shortages and hardship.

"There is hunger, but from what I've seen these past few days, they can pull through," Bispuri said, praising the Cuban people and their culture.

But many small privately owned hostels and restaurants say they cannot survive, and have already closed.

Jairan Lombira, manager of La Vitrola cafe in Old Havana, said he has implemented a 50% discount to attract passersby, foreigners or otherwise, and keep from having to shutter his business.

"We are now focusing on attracting the domestic market while waiting for things to improve," Lombira said. REUTERS